Keira Melican
Principal Researcher | Docent
E-mail: keira.melican@ki.se
Telephone: +46852487069
Visiting address: Cmm, L8:02, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, 17176 Stockholm
Postal address: K2 Medicin, Solna, K2 Derm o Ven Eidsmo L Melican K, 171 77 Stockholm
About me
- Associate Professor working with Bacterial Pathogenesis.
Chairman of the Swedish Society for Microbiology
2004 Bachelor of Science, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
2005 Master of Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
2010 PhD in Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
2010-2013 Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Paris Cardiovascular Research
Center, Paris, France
2014 - 2019 Assistant Professor, Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
2019 - Senior Researcher, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska
Institutet, Stockholm
Research
- In my team we aim to understand the dynamic interplay which occurs between
host and pathogen following infection, as a means to find alternative
treatment options. To do this we use a number of cutting-edge techniques
including intravital imaging, /in vivo/ modelling, immunological screening
and nanomedical approaches.
Our current focus is on two different clinically important bacterial
pathogens, /Staphylococcus aureus/ and uropathogenic /Escherichia coli/.
In our work with /Staphylococcus/ we are using humanized models of skin
colonisation to understand how methicillin resistant /S. aureus/ (MRSA)
colonizes healthy human skin and the inflammatory reaction this triggers.
Further we are investigating the role of coagulase negative Staphylococci
(CoNS) in skin colonisation and its interactions with MRSA.
To study UPEC kidney infection we use a spatially-temporally controlled in
vivo model to allow single cell resolution of kidney infection. This work has
led to the description of an infection-mediated protective coagulation
response to prevent the progression of infection to sepsis. Ongoing work aims
to understand how different innate immune response activate
following local bacterial infections.
Teaching
- I am course responsible for the PhD course in Clinical and Molecular
Bacteriology as well as free-standing course and workshops focussing on
interdisiplanary approaches to Infection.
I lecture in a number of both undergraduate and graduate courses here at KI
as well as other universities around Sweden.
Articles
- Article: MICROBIOLOGY-SGM. 2025;171(1):001522
- Article: BIOMATERIALS ADVANCES. 2025;166:214068
- Article: BIOFILM. 2024;8:100212
- Journal article: RSC PHARMACEUTICS. 2024;1(3):570-580
- Article: PLOS PATHOGENS. 2024;20(8):e1012056
- Article: NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY. 2024;19(7):887-888
- Journal article: SUSTAINABLE MICROBIOLOGY. 2024;1(1):qvae023
- Article: PATHOGENS AND DISEASE. 2022;80(1):fty087
- Article: BMC INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 2022;22(1):509
- Article: BIOFILM. 2021;3:100060
- Article: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 2021;12(1):4547
- Article: ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES. 2021;6(7):2001307
- Article: PLOS PATHOGENS. 2021;17(5):e1009553
- Article: FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY. 2020;11:26
- Article: CELL REPORTS. 2019;29(5):1074-1081.e5
- Article: MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM. 2019;7(3):10.1128/microbiolspec.bai
- Article: FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY. 2019;10:2744
- Article: PATHOGENS AND DISEASE. 2018;76(8):fty087
- Article: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 2018;9(1):4450
- Article: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 2016;6:35578
- Article: NPJ BIOFILMS AND MICROBIOMES. 2016;2:16024
- Journal article: JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS. 2014;(86)
- Article: JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS. 2014;(86):51134
- Article: METHODSX. 2014;1:251-253
- Article: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE. 2013;188(6):684-692
- Article: PLOS PATHOGENS. 2013;9(1):e1003139
- Article: PLOS PATHOGENS. 2011;7(2):e1001298
- Article: CRITICAL REVIEWS IN IMMUNOLOGY. 2010;30(2):107-117
- Article: CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY. 2008;10(10):1987-1998
- Article: CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY. 2007;9(2):413-424
- Show more
Employments
- Principal Researcher, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-
- Principal Researcher, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2025
Degrees and Education
- Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2022
- Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2010
Supervision
- Anna-Lena Gürtler, Electrospun skin patches for the treatment of psoriasis, 2024
- Mariam Shahata, 2023
- Andreas Brutscher, Profiling the immune response of healthy human skin to colonization by different Staphylococcus sp., 2022
- Tianqi Zhang, 2020
- Julia Lang
- Anette Schulz